


Knight of Pentacles

by LadyofShalott



Series: Tarot [3]
Category: Professional Wrestling, WWE, 新日本プロレス | New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 21:06:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11563350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyofShalott/pseuds/LadyofShalott
Summary: Roman finally gets Seth to talk.





	Knight of Pentacles

**Author's Note:**

> While I adore these men, I don't know them. It's all fiction.

**Knight of Pentacles: Ambition. Hard Work. Perfectionism.**

Seth is no stranger to hard work. His goal in wrestling is simple – he wants to be the absolute best, and he’s not above busting his ass to achieve that. He’s been doing just that for years, and nobody can say that anything has been handed to him in the business. He’s worked for every single accomplishment.

The gym has been his refuge for as long as he can remember. It lets him think – or not think, if that’s what he needs. Today, that’s exactly what he needs. Headphones on, music up, he doesn’t want to talk to anybody. He hopes that by exhausting his body, he can exhaust his mind as well, because right now, his mind is tormenting him with memories that have broken through his carefully constructed wall – that have left a Kenny Omega-shaped hole in that wall to match the one in his heart. The one that he is finally starting to be able to admit is still in his heart.

He isn’t exactly sure how long he’s been working out. All he knows is that he still sees Kenny’s face every time he closes his eyes…. Still thinks he hears his voice from time to time…

Only, that isn’t Kenny’s voice, and Roman is standing in front of him with Seth’s earbuds dangling from one hand. Seth has a brief wave of déjà vu before he’s able to focus on his friend.

“Cesaro said you’ve been here since around 7:30 this morning.”

“Yeah, I figured I’d get in a couple hours.”

“Then Dean told me you were still here when he left at ten. So I got a little worried. Come on, let’s get out of here. You should eat.”

“I had breakfast.”

“Seth. It’s almost noon. You’re going to collapse. And you’re going to go deaf before you hit thirty-five.”

“Noon?” Seth’s a little confused. “It can’t be.”

Roman flashes his watch at Seth and hands him a protein bar and a bottle of water. “Finish those, then we’ll shower and change. I’m taking you to lunch.”

Again with the déjà vu, and Roman sits cross-legged on the floor in front of him.

“You want to talk about it?”

“No.” Seth is a good boy and takes a bite of protein bar, and suddenly realizes that he’s starving. And that he’s maybe overdone it a bit.

“You’ve been through a rough patch, man. With the breakups and the photo leak and your knee… and your knee again… and I don’t know why the hell you’re using a knee strike as a finisher, by the way… but you need to talk to someone. It doesn’t have to be me.”

“I’m okay,” Seth insists. “And the knee strike… when I was rehabbing, Shin suggested it – and then Finn agreed with him – turn my weakness into a weapon.” That’s what comes out of his mouth. His brain adds, _Kenny uses it_.

“You sure you don’t want to talk? I know you, Seth. You think if you ignore something long enough, it’ll go away.”

Seth crumples the wrapper after he finishes his protein bar. “I’m fine.”

“Drink that.” Roman orders. “It’s not going to put back everything you’ve sweated out, but it’s a start.”

Seth rolls his eyes. “Yes, Mom.”

Roman grins and stands up. He follows Seth to the locker room, close by to catch him in case his adrenaline crashes and he blacks out.

Roman is a good friend, and lets Seth not talk about things during lunch. They talk about everything except what’s bothering Seth. Roman’s fine with giving him time, but he’s worried.  
Later, they’re hanging out backstage at the arena. Roman presses the issue a little.

“You want to tell me why you were trying to kill yourself back at the gym?”

Seth sighs and stares at Roman for a minute. “You’re not going to let me not tell you, are you?”

“I will annoy the hell out of you until you cave,” Roman confirms. He locks eyes with Seth and rests both big hands on his shoulders. “I’m worried about you. We’re all worried, and if you tell me you’re fine one more time, so help me, Seth, I’m getting Dean and Finn in here.”

Seth takes a deep breath; lets it out. Looks away for a minute. Roman’s moved his hands, so Seth thinks briefly about making a run for it. He meets Roman’s eyes again and decides he may as well just rip off the bandaid.

“That match we were watching a couple weeks ago… Me and Bryan and Kenny. It, um… it brought up a bunch of old memories. Stuff I thought I was over. Turns out I’m not.”

“Wait, you said you had a thing with someone you used to work with – it was him?” Realization hits Roman, and he feels bad about making Seth watch the match with him.

Seth nods. “I loved him, Roman,” he confesses sadly. “I thought he loved me, but I was never enough for him. I mean, I’m a fuckup, Roman. I get that. I am really, really bad with relationships – or I have been since him… but Kenny and I... what we had was perfect, or I thought it was. And then it all just blew up in my face.”

The fact that Seth is barely holding back tears makes Roman want to go to Japan and commit murder. “You’re still in love with him,” Roman says gently, moving to slip his arms around Seth, because if anybody has ever _needed_ a hug, it’s him.

“Part of me always will be,” Seth confirms, resting his head on Roman’s shoulder.

“Maybe call him?”

“I don’t have his number.”

“You could always message him on Twitter and say hi.”

“I can’t.” Seth pulls back and looks up at his friend. “He already broke me once, Roman. I don’t think I could survive it again.”

“You’re tougher than you think.” Roman hugs him again, wishing he could fix everything for him. He knows, though, that this is one situation his little brother is going to have to fix on his own. That doesn’t mean Roman isn’t going to have his back the whole way.


End file.
